


Yukio's No Good Very Bad Day

by rynoa29



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Gen, Illuminati shenanigans, can be read as shippy but it's very faint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:53:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27689912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rynoa29/pseuds/rynoa29
Summary: Yukio is well aware that he has the worst kind of luck... It's just simply something he has to live with.
Relationships: Okumura Yukio & Shima Renzou
Comments: 11
Kudos: 18





	Yukio's No Good Very Bad Day

**Author's Note:**

> Something kind of silly I felt like writing... Also, disclaimer, I know nothing about boats lmao. Hope you enjoy!

Could karma be inherited? Yukio was beginning to think that the possibility wasn’t so baseless. It was the only explanation as to why he seemed to be constantly cursed with bad luck. This seemed to be the case more than ever recently, so maybe his deepening connection with Satan had a hand in it.

Whatever it was, Yukio felt extremely annoyed at the situation he found himself in. The mission he had been sent on should have been simple. It was a routine inspection of one of their labs located on a remote island. He would have preferred to take an air ride, however, stealth was key this time around. They didn’t want anyone to catch wind of the location of the base, which was also why he’d ended up renting a small yacht to travel.

He had not foreseen the violent windstorm that had come out of nowhere. One moment, he’d been sailing smoothly, feeling somewhat relaxed by the routine task of navigating through the calm waters. In the next, he found himself clutching the steering wheel with an iron grip, trying to maintain his balance as a large wave crashed against the small vessel, making it rock unsteadily.

“Shit,” he cursed as he quickly tried to regain his bearings, but he barely had a second to come up with a plan to get the situation under control when the boat rocked again, even more violently this time. He heard a loud thunk that was swiftly followed by a screeching sound that, hours later, still grated his ears. Immediately, he was filled with a feeling of dread.

 _It’s fine. It’s fine. Everything is going to be fine_ , he told himself. It was uncharacteristically optimistic of him, but there was a part of him that couldn't help but to cling on to hope on occasion.

_“Don’t forget, sometimes it really is mind over matter, kiddo. Can’t go into every situation dreading the worst. A clear head’s more likely to help you get out of tight spots.”_

His dad’s advice still remained clearly present in his mind after all these years, but although he could recall the words with perfect accuracy, the sound of his voice was becoming a distant memory. Yukio forced himself to ignore the complicated pang that struck him at the realization. He focused on the more pressing need to get the boat back under his control. Thankfully, the storm didn’t linger for much longer. It had come and gone so quickly that Yukio instinctively wondered if it was demonic in nature. Was there a beast beneath these waters that the Illuminati was unaware of or had failed to inform him of? Once he was steadier on his feet, Yukio switched the engine off and rushed out to the bow of the ship to get a better view of the situation.

The puffy clouds that had darkened the sky were already starting to break apart, albeit at a snail’s pace. The wind had significantly slowed down, its harsh whooshing moans dulling into a soft breeze. It put Yukio only somewhat at ease. The dread he’d been filled with earlier hadn’t quite died down, and he knew that it wouldn’t until he was able to discern what had made that awful noise earlier.

Unfortunately, his investigation only confirmed his fears—during the brief storm, the boat had slammed into _something,_ a stray set of rocks sitting underwater perhaps, and the impact had damaged the engine rotor. He was 90% positive they weren’t going to be able to continue forward like this.

It really was just his luck.

A pervasive feeling of helplessness struck him briefly, mixed along with a frustration that only deepened when his traveling companion finally stepped out into the deck. 

“Heyo,” Renzou said, covering his mouth as he let out a wide yawn. He’d been taking a nap in the cabin below and Yukio could hardly believe that he had slept through that entire commotion.

“How’s it going?” Renzou asked, cocking his head as he met Yukio’s gaze. The smile on his face was as easy going as ever, even though Yukio knew his former student wasn’t so unobservant as to have failed to notice that the boat had stopped moving and that their destination was nowhere in sight.

“We’re stuck.” Yukio found himself pointing out the obvious anyway.

“Stuck?” Renzou’s brow furrowed briefly. He joined Yukio’s side and peered down. His eyebrows rose as he took in the damage himself.

"Oh, damn. That sucks." 

He didn’t sound nearly as troubled as Yukio felt the situation warranted. “We have to do something about this. We’re in the middle of nowhere and still have some ways to go.”

“Probably for the best,” Renzou mused out loud. “We're gonna have to ask for a rescue team to pick us up. Shouldn’t be too bad since we still have a fair bit of distance to cover. The Captain won’t like it though.” He shrugged carelessly. After all, it was a situation that just couldn’t be helped. “Oh well, that just means more nap time for me!”

“You’re going back to sleep?!”

Renzou was already on his way back to the cabin, though he did pause to look back at him. “Yeah? What else do you propose we do?”

Yukio’s eyebrow twitched. “Something _useful_ ,” he snapped. “The storm that caused all this in the first place was too sudden to have been normal. We’ll be in trouble if it catches us off-guard again. I’m going to try to figure out if there’s a way to fix this mess. In the meantime, why don’t investigate if there’s a demon nearby that we should be worrying about?” 

“Eehhhh?” Renzou made a face. “We’ll be fine. Let’s just call it in and wait.”

“If you fall asleep again, I’ll throw you overboard,” Yukio deadpanned.

“Please don’t.”

Yukio was gratified to see Renzou walk towards the opposite end of the ship rather than duck below deck again. It made the helpless feeling that had been plaguing him abate a little. Renzou was annoying, sure, but he wasn’t entirely unreliable, so Yukio felt comfortable in leaving him be for the next few minutes and took out his phone. The fact that he still had a decent signal had him quietly thanking God under his breath, but his thumb hovered over the messenger app for several seconds as he deliberated whether or not to call for someone to rescue them. Logistically, that was the smart choice to make, but it irked Yukio to botch up his first technically unsupervised mission. Usually, he was sent out in a team of four. Renzou always tagged along as they had been assigned as a pair from early on. The other two members tended to vary, but they were always senior members of the organization; more often than not, that tended to be the Lundstrom twins. Yukio did not miss their overbearing presence today, even if it would have probably been helpful to have them around to help.

But no, he could deal with this. How hard could it be to repair a ship as small as this?

Several minutes later, Yukio was deep into several articles he had found on the web as he tried to figure out if there was any easy or temporary fix that would allow them to reach their destination within the specified time range of their mission. Nothing seemed particularly conclusive. It was possible that he wasn’t looking up the right terms, so he decided to study up a little bit more on the mechanical aspects of the ship he had rented. All the while, Yukio couldn’t help but to despair about his luck again. It would have been much simpler to deal with something like a leak, but of course, nothing could ever be that easy. He wondered if he should risk turning on the engine after all. Maybe the damage wasn’t all that bad. Maybe it would work, albeit slowly, and that was better than nothing. 

If it didn’t, was it possible to at least row to their destination? No, that was ridiculous. Right? 

The sky above him continued to clear, which was the only good outcome of the entire ordeal, but even that worried him. He glanced back at Renzou, wondering if he had made any headway in finding the demon that had put them in this predicament, only to be taken aback by the fact that the other had not moved an inch since he had last seen him. Instead, he was comfortably leaning against the railing of the port side of the ship, looking at his phone. His expression was studious in a way that Yukio has never seen before when he had been his teacher, and it was entirely uncalled for given that he was clearly playing some sort of game on his phone. 

Yukio was immediately filled with the urge to shove him overboard. He’d be justified, given the warning he’d given him earlier. But Renzou had not even put back on the life vest he had discarded when he had gone to take a nap, and it would be far too troublesome to deal with the ensuing fallout should he follow through with his threat. 

So instead, Renzou found himself tensing up when Yukio snuck up behind him and pressed the barrel of his gun to the back of his head. His fingers quickly tapped the pause button on his game, as if that should be his first priority.

“I take it you’re not happy to see me, and that that’s definitely your gun.” 

“Did someone drop you on your head when you were a child?”

“Probably—ow!”

To Yukio’s disappointment, Renzou did not drop his phone as he hurriedly reached up to cover the spot Yukio had smacked the handle of his gun against.

“You know, if I _had been_ , that probably just made it worse,” he grumbled, rubbing his head, to which Yukio countered with a snappish, “quit messing around and get to work!” 

“Oh, come on, sensei. Can’t you just enjoy this opportunity for what it is?” Renzou whined as he turned to look at him.

Yukio’s eyebrow twitched visibly. Once again, he resisted the urge to throw Renzou overboard. “For the last time, I’m not your teacher anymore, and this isn’t a vacation!” he growled. “Why aren’t you taking this more seriously?” 

“You’re already taking this seriously enough for the both of us, aren't you?” 

Yukio’s murderous intentions must have flashed across his face, because Renzou proceeded to bring up his hands in a hurried, placating manner. “What I meant is that I couldn’t sense any sort of demon around here! It was just a regular storm, so please quit freaking out on me.”

“And just how do I know you’re really telling the truth?” 

“How does anyone really?” Renzou said with an agreeable shrug that had Yukio’s eyes narrowing again. “No, seriously! I really did check!” 

Yukio had his doubts, but there was no use pursuing that line of topic at the moment. If Renzou was lying to him, Yukio would make sure to make him regret it later on.

“Fine then. In that case, follow me. I need your help with something else.”

“Of course you do...”

Yukio ignored the exasperated mutter and walked back to the stern of the ship, trusting Renzou to follow behind him. Once there, he gestured towards the water. “We need a better view of the problem. Obviously, the dent looks bad, but before I try turning on the engine, I want to know if there’s more damage below.”

“So…” Renzou looked between Yukio and the water with a blank expression on his face.

“So get down there already and make yourself useful,” Yukio finished, and though his voice held the same sternness that had once been effective in getting Renzou to fall in line, things really had changed ever since they’d both switched sides.

(He tried not to think about the fact that it hadn’t been long ago that Renzou had _outranked_ him.) 

“Uh-uh. Hell no!” Renzou protested, taking a step back as he crossed his arms in front of him. “Are you kidding me? Just call it in already!”

“We’re _not_ calling it in. Not yet anyway.” Yukio pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “It’s too early to tell still. This could be an easy fix, so don’t make things more difficult than they need to be.”

Renzou and Yukio stared each other down for a long moment. Neither of them seemed ready to relent to the other’s will. 

“If you push me overboard, I’ll take you with me,” Renzou finally said after some time, accurately sensing Yukio’s rising intention to do so. Yukio’s eye narrowed coldly. The warning only provoked him further; it was only the threat of the setting sun in the distance that nudged him to follow his common sense instead.

“Fine then. _I’ll_ go down, but don’t even think about going anywhere in the meantime. I don’t trust these waters. Keep an eye on me and help me back up when I’m ready.”

He didn’t let Renzou argue the matter any further. He _did_ make him put a life vest back on—Yukio’s, in fact, since he was not going to need it. After tying a rope around his waist, taking off his glasses and the eyepatch that covered his right eye and replacing them with his prescription goggles, and leaving one of his guns safely within reach on deck—he didn’t want to go into the water unarmed but didn’t want to waterlog both of his guns either—Yukio slipped down into the ocean with a quiet splash. The cold water instantly made his stomach clench. Goosebumps emerged across the entirety of his arms, but Yukio ignored his discomfort and focused on the task at hand. He ducked fully underwater and took a closer look at the rotor from beneath, all while carefully keeping his right eye closed.

As he feared, the damage really was worse than they could deal with. The propeller had completely come off—that would’ve been the initial _thunk_ he’d heard, he supposed. Yukio frowned and looked around to see if he could spot it anywhere nearby, but there was nothing of the sort around. It must’ve sank already, if it hadn’t been taken away by the violent waves from earlier. 

_Of course_ , he thought with a muted sort of resignation. He really did have the worst luck. He supposed, at least, that he should be grateful that there didn't seem to be wasn’t any sort of demon around after all, from what he could see anyway. Rin’s ability to sense demons could have come in handy here, given how fickle Renzou was about using his own, but of course, the only _useful_ power Yukio had inherited was being fireproof, and it had come with the downside of being stuck with a chatty, irritating parasite that could pop up at random. 

“So, what’s the verdict?” Renzou asked when Yukio’s head surfaced from the water.

Yukio’s lack of response said everything that needed to be said. There was no point in even proposing they try to turn on the engine. No, they were going to have to call it in, just as Renzou had originally suggested. 

He was really, really irked by this outcome.

“Help me up.”

Once he was back on deck, Yukio wasted no time in switching his eyewear pieces before doing anything else, finding a small comfort in the motion of putting the white eyepatch back on. It was weird, how much he’d grown used to only seeing out of one eye. Not for the first time, he wondered if he would ever be able to rid himself of Satan’s presence, or at least be able to switch on and off the ‘window’ that allowed him to peer into Assiah. It was a problem that plagued him daily, and now that his motivation to fix their current situation had been cut off, it was one that resurfaced from the back of his mind.

_First thing’s first though…_

It was with visible reluctance that Yukio reached for his phone. He headed straight to the messaging app and began typing up a short report summarizing what had happened. 

“There,” Yukio said as he pressed the Sent button. However, before he exited out of the app, a loading bar appeared at the top center of the screen and stalled briefly before disappearing completely. His message became grayed out and remained unsent. A glance at the upper corner of his phone revealed that his signal had died.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” he muttered, glaring down at his phone.

“Hmm?” Renzou didn’t even spare him a glance. He had gotten right back to playing whatever game he had been focused on earlier, leaning comfortably against the railing of the ship.

“Do you have any signal?” Yukio demanded as he untied the rope from his waist and began walking around, dripping water onto the deck as he lifted his phone far above his head with the hope to get at least one bar of signal back. “My message isn’t sending.”

This time, Renzou did glance at him. He stared at Yukio blankly and opened his mouth to respond but as he observed Yukio’s increasingly frustrated expression, he closed his mouth shut again and bit back a smile. “Huh,” he said, with far more humor in his voice than the situation warranted for. “Guess we're really stuck now.” 

“Don’t sound so happy about it,” Yukio muttered.

“And why not?” Renzou slipped his phone back into his pocket and began following Yukio around. “Sometimes, you just gotta roll with the punches, yanno. What’s the use of stressing out? It is what it is. I mean, it could be—” 

“— _Don’t_ say it.” Yukio swiveled back around and glared at Renzou who stopped midstep and lifted his hands up defensively. 

“You’re really in a mood right now, aren’t you?” Renzou said instead, clearly lacking any kind of self-preservation. The expression on his face was far too amused and only spurred Yukio’s foul mood into worsening.

“What you need,” Renzou told him with an infuriating placating grin, “is a change of clothes and some food to fill the bottomless pit you call a stomach. We’ve already done all we can do already, right? So seriously, take it easy for a second and go change before you end up getting sick too. Maybe by that time the signal will be all fixed, right?”

Yukio hated how much sense Renzou, of all people, was making. Out of sheer principle, he felt disinclined to follow his advice. But because the world seemed to be against him at every turn, a strong breeze blew by then, and Yukio had to physically stop himself from shivering. 

“We’re in the middle of nowhere,” Yukio reminded his infuriating companion. “What exactly do you propose we eat?” he asked with a biting tone, pushing back on at least this point.

Renzou lifted one eyebrow. “My, my, sensei. Did you come on this trip _unprepared_? Just what is this world coming to?” 

The mocking tone really was the last straw. Yukio grabbed Renzou by his collar and was gratified to finally see Renzou’s face lose a shade of color. 

“I brought food! Please don’t throw me overboard!” he whined pathetically. The confidence he’d shown earlier had been tossed out the window, making Yukio wonder why he had ever taken him seriously in the first place. 

“C’mon! It’s cold, and I only brought one set of extra clothes! You don’t wanna hear me whining about being cold all night, right?!” Renzou continued to protest.

It was nice to see the change in tune. Yukio kept his hold on the other for a little longer, just to see him squirm some more. The nervous smile and the bead of sweat that ran down the side of Renzou’s face pacified Yukio into finally letting go. 

“Give me your clothes,” he demanded as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “And I hope you brought something decent to eat. I’d hate to send you _fishing_ around for food when you have no more clothes left to spare,” he added with a pleasant smile. “Though, I suppose you’re the type that likes to swim in the nude, aren’t you? I guess it won’t be much of an issue after all.” 

Yukio’s condescending tone had Renzou keeping any lewd comebacks to himself, wisely so. Or perhaps it was the fear of having to dive into the water which was only growing increasingly colder as the sun continued to set in the distance. Either way, Yukio soon found himself discarding his water-logged uniform and replacing it with a pair of comfy slacks and a T-shirt. Not his usual style, but it would do. It did, however, made him wonder why the other had chosen to bring this outfit along instead of another set of uniform clothes. _Does he really think this is a vacation?_

The irritation he felt at that was swept away by the selection of food Renzou had brought out, which actually surprised him. There were actual bento boxes in the bag he had packed for this trip. Three of them in fact.

“Why did you bring three…?” Yukio asked bemused.

“Please. You’ve been with us for this long, and I’ve known you for even longer. You think I’m not aware of how insane your appetite is?” Renzou rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “I figured you’d be less grumpy if you had some actual food to eat for once. I bet you packed those awful protein bars again for this trip. I don’t know how you can stand to eat them.”

Yukio _had_ packed them. They came in handy when he was too busy to spend much time eating. He’d brought some just in case he got too caught up in the inspection they were supposed to do, but contrary to what Renzou believed, he did not actually enjoy the taste of them. He was pretty grateful now to be able to eat a more palatable option. Not that he was going to admit it. It took him enough strength to swallow down the fact that Renzou had noticed all that about him without him noticing.

 _These are my favorites too…_ Yukio couldn’t help but to note. Though a part of him felt… flattered, he supposed he shouldn’t be too surprised that Renzou knew that much about him. 

Yukio was a private person by nature, but Renzou had made a livelihood out of being nosy and secretive. It was somehow off putting and reassuring to see the other act in such a capable manner. 

_I guess he does get serious about things when it counts…_

The two of them ate their meals quietly out on the deck. While the temperature around them continued to decrease, neither of them felt inclined to move yet. They had settled down quite comfortably, with their backs pressed against one of the external walls of the ship. And, as Yukio’s hunger began to be sated, his foul mood slowly vanished as well. The sky outside was a calming, beautiful distraction… Hundreds and hundreds of stars shone brightly above them, a sea of diamonds that Yukio had grown very familiar with living in the Dominus Liminis. Yet somehow, staring at them now from this distance made him feel smaller than ever.

“I’m cooold.” Renzou’s whine broke through the peaceful silence.

“Then go inside,” Yukio replied without breaking his gaze away from the sky.

“And you’re even colder,” Renzou grumbled. “C’mon, I’m too full to move. Warm me up?”

Suddenly, Yukio found himself with Renzou pressed up against his side. He shoved him away immediately, but Renzou persisted, leaning in close again. “Pleeease? Just for a little bit?”

“Hell no.” Yukio scowled at him, inching away. 

“Why are you making such a big deal about this? Think I’m gonna do something?” 

Well, now he was, and Renzou’s wiggling eyebrows weren’t helping that trail of thought at all. 

“I’m kidding!” Renzou was far too amused by Yukio’s irritated expression. “I’m not gonna do anything, I promise! Can’t you stop being so stubborn for once in your life?”

“Only when _you_ learn to stop being so infuriating,” Yukio shot back. 

Renzou rolled his eyes, but with a masochistic sort of determination, he grabbed onto Yukio’s arm and refused to let go. “Just stay still already. You’re freezing too, and you don’t wanna move yet either, right?” Before Yukio could protest again, Renzou added, “I’ll take this as my payment for the food. I didn’t _have_ to give you all that extra, yanno.”

Yukio’s mouth closed with a snap. Forget gratitude; the last thing he wanted now was for Renzou to have something to lord over his head. Although it stung this pride, Yukio forced himself to concede.

“If you even think about doing anything funny, I’ll shoot you,” he warned coldly. 

Renzou only beamed back in response before settling down again, pressed against his side.

It _was_ much warmer now that they were like this. Their body heat mixed in together, shoulder to shoulder, torso to torso. Renzou's knees were pressed up against his thigh and the tips of his hair tickled his ear, just a bit. It was a level of closeness that was uncomfortable at first, but Yukio closed his eyes and forced himself to bear it, at least for a while longer, enough so that Renzou wouldn’t end up complaining again.

He focused on the rest of his surroundings instead. The sound of the waves, now that he bothered to pay attention to it, was rather lulling. There was something about it that put him at ease despite the fact that the ocean that surrounded them was akin to a prison right now.

 _Maybe,_ Yukio contemplated absentmindedly, _I could try summoning a few naiads tomorrow_. He wasn’t sure how he hadn’t thought about it earlier, but they should be able to get the boat moving. If he wasn’t so tired, he would be tempted to get to it right then and there, but it had been a long day, and it would be far more productive for him to store up more energy and attempt it tomorrow, after he’d gotten a good rest.

Feeling more secure with this plan in mind, Yukio found it a lot easier to allow himself to relax a little more. Renzou’s warmth didn’t seem so unbearable anymore… rather the opposite in fact. When was the last time he had ever had anyone this close at his side? Yukio had stopped sharing a bed with his brother well into his youth. The nostalgia often caused bitter feelings to surface in his mind, but right now, the memory of that warmth mixed with the present, and really, it wasn’t all bad at all… Unconsciously, he pressed in a little closer, just barely, and Renzou responded by shifting his legs to accommodate him. However, the change in position ended up having the opposite effect than intended. Something hard and uncomfortable began to press against his thigh and the distracting sensation caused the fog that had begun to spread across his mind to dissipate instantly. 

_Is that…?_ Yukio’s cheeks heated up for a second before the rest of his awareness returned to him at once. He recognized the sensation all too well. _It can’t be..._

“You have a key?!”

Yukio pulled away from the other at once and the outrage in his voice had Renzou jolting violently away from him. When he met his eyes, Yukio was able to recognize the guilt hidden behind his surprised expression in an instant. The noise that Yukio let out in response had Renzou rising up to his feet immediately.

“Ahaha, wait… It’s not what you think! This is for emergencies only!” he exclaimed as he scrambled away. His hand covered the pocket the key resided in protectively. 

“This _is_ an emergency!" Yukio growled, rising to his feet in a swift movement. “I can’t believe you! All this time, and we could have gotten out of here?!”

"Look, this doesn't lead back to base, okay? We can’t just use this to get out of here. What’re we gonna tell them?!"

"They know you're a spy," Yukio sneered.

"They _can’t_ know about this key," Renzou insisted, shaking his head. 

Yukio took a step forward, which had Renzou taking another step back.

“Give it here.”

“No!”

“Shima—!”

“Cut it out! I ain’t giving this to ya!”

Predictably, the scuffle that ensued ended up with Yukio pinning Renzou down on the floor. He would give the spy credit where credit was due, however. Renzou had been more adept in running away from him than Yukio had expected. 

“No more games,” Yukio warned as he glared down at the other sternly. “I’m taking the key.”

Renzou gave him a petulant scowl in return. “And what do you think is going to happen when they find us missing at this rate? I did call them, yanno.”

“You… what?” The words didn’t register fully at first. Renzou proceeded to explain.

“When you went underwater earlier. Signal was just fine then. I mean, it was obvious by that point that we were going to be stuck here for good, and I had a feeling you were going to bitch me out again for not doing anything useful, so…”

So he had called the Illuminati.

“And you decided… all this time… to not say anything?!”

“Well, at first I just thought it would be funny,” Renzou admitted, as always, seeming to lack any sort of self-preservation. Yukio’s hands tightened around the other’s wrists viscerally. 

“Ouch!” Renzou winced and futilely wiggled underneath him. “I’m sorry, okay?! I just thought you could use a break!”

“You thought… I could use… a break?” The sheer hilarity of the concept had Yukio’s grip weakening. Renzou wanted him to take a break? Of all things…! As if Yukio hadn’t betrayed his brother, his students, the one and only friendship he’d ever treasured—as if he hadn’t dirtied his hands working for the Illuminati in pursuit of his own goals—as if Satan wasn’t a constant presence that he had to worry about—

And Renzou wanted him to relax?

Yukio stared down at his former student with an incredulous expression but before he could say anything at all, he suddenly found their positions reversed. Yukio blinked in surprise, realizing seconds too late that Renzou was the one pinning him down now with a surprising amount of strength. In a normal situation, with any other opponent, Yukio was confident that he would have been able to wrestle his way back on top, but Renzou must have been using some of Yamantaka’s strength. His grip on Yukio rendered him completely immobile.

“Why is it so hard for you to just chill out for once? You were finally getting it!” Renzou accused. He pressed on, not giving Yukio a chance to speak.

“No one’s here! No one’s watching us! And yeah, sure, this isn’t the most relaxing way to go about it, but can’t ya at least play pretend for a second? You need this, Okumura. Take this as the stroke of good luck as it is. Consider it a vacation!”

 _That again..._ Yukio shook his head. He glared up at Renzou with frustration.

“This isn’t a—” he started, but Renzou cut him off quickly.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, but you sure as hell need one! Seriously, I know it feels like the world will end if ya stop moving, but all that stress you’re carrying ain’t gonna be helpful at all to your plans.”

“What do you know?” Yukio sneered. “You have no idea what the hell I’m going through.”

“Don’t I? Tell me I’m wrong,” Renzou countered. “Tell me you don’t need this.”

“I don’t.”

“ _Liar_.”

“That’s rich, coming from you.”

“I’ve never lied to myself, yanno.” Renzou’s whispered words hit Yukio with an intensity that had him flinching. This, of all things, had Renzou’s grip loosening into something gentler, but Yukio couldn’t find it in himself to take advantage of it.

“It’s just a day, yanno… Not even. They’ll be here in a couple of more hours. Are you really going to fight with me for the rest of this time?” 

When put that way, it really did sound pointless, didn’t it? Yukio felt the last of his energy, of his resistance, syphon away from him, leaving him exhausted. 

“Get off.” 

He hated how hard it was to even voice the words. Yukio’s eye fell shut for a moment, wishing for one second that all his worries could drain away as easily as Renzou made it seem. Rest wasn’t something he deserved, it wasn’t something he could afford to overindulge in… 

But what else was there to do while they waited for help to arrive?

“Oooh?” Yukio opened his eye and found Renzou, never one to lose a chance to flirt, leering down at him. “Like this? I didn’t think you would ask~ ♥” 

Yukio shoved him off and got up to his feet.

“Don’t make me regret this more than I already do,” he muttered. With a sigh, Yukio glanced in the direction of the cabin below and began to make his way towards it. “I’m going to sleep—and _no_ , we’re not sharing the bed. If you’re gonna come, then come, but you’re staying on the floor, and you better keep your mouth shut or I’ll gag you.”

“Wow, how kinky~” 

Yukio shot him a glare.

“Aaaaand shutting up now, yup!” Renzou smiled back innocently, but Yukio tore his gaze away quickly. The satisfaction that seemed to dance within those brown eyes brought that uncomfortable warmth from earlier right back up to the surface.

Why did Renzou care so much anyway?

Yukio shoved that thought away. No, it didn’t matter either way. Whatever Renzou’s intentions were, whether this was coming from a desire to mess around with him or some genuine concern, Yukio couldn’t allow himself to think about it. He couldn’t allow himself the weakness of opening his heart to anyone else ever again. 

_I’m not so lucky to think I’ll get a happy ending. But I suppose it won’t hurt to rest, just for one night…_


End file.
